The Port of Hueneme closed last fiscal year on a high note, hitting all-time records for cargo imports and exports.

The port, a shipping hub for various automobile and farming businesses among other things, saw 1.6 million tons of cargo move through its docks during the 2018 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.

Officials said fresh fruits and vegetables, automobiles and fertilizer were among the products showing gains in tonnage.

The statistic represents an 8.1 percent increase over the prior year’s 1.48 million cargo tons moved. The previous record was set in the 2015 fiscal year, when 1.56 million cargo tons moved through the port. Cargo volume at the port is up 23 percent since 2012, officials said.

Much of the port’s recent success can be attributed to its Sealand – A Maersk Company liner service, Port of Hueneme CEO Kristin Decas said. She noted that while most ships will only import or export certain kinds of cargo, the liner service will ship any product. That allows larger volumes and wider varieties of products to move through the port.

“We’ve seen about a 42 percent uptick in perishable goods (shipping), and a lot of this is driven by the liner service,” Decas said in an interview. “There are more people using our services because of the Sealand liner service. It brings in surplus products for our longstanding customers and supports our third-party cargo shippers”

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A crane unloads cargo from the Chiquita Venture ship at the Port of Hueneme. The port recently broke its cargo import and export record. Pineapple and melon shipping saw a 50 percent increase in imports from the previous fiscal year. Bananas were up percent. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

A crane unloads cargo from the Chiquita Venture ship at the Port of Hueneme. The port recently broke its cargo import and export record. The port serves as the western hub for the Chiquita, Del Monte and One Banana brands. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

A crane unloads cargo from the Chiquita Venture ship at the Port of Hueneme. Bananas are among the top crops moving through the port. Shipping figures for bananas through the port were up 5 percent in the recently ended fiscal year. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

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Decas added that the port is continuing to work on several projects to further boost profitability in the years ahead. Chief among them is the port’s harbor deepening project, which will allow larger ships into the area and is scheduled to be completed in January 2020. Beyond that, the port is also getting new cranes and a staging area that will have more capacity for containers, Decas said.

Many of the port’s imports and exports saw noticeable bumps in volumes during the 2018 fiscal year. Pineapple and melon shipping rose by 50 percent, while banana shipping was up by 5 percent.

“A 5 percent increase in banana imports may not sound like a big deal, but when you take into account that we import over 3.3 billion bananas a year, that percentage increase can make a significant impact on our overall cargo tonnage,” said Jason Hodge, a member of the board of the Oxnard Harbor District, which owns and operates the port.

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A crane unloads cargo from the Chiquita Venture ship at the Port of Hueneme. The port recently broke its cargo import and export record. The port serves as the western hub for the Chiquita, Del Monte and One Banana brands.(Photo: JUAN CARLO/THE STAR)

The port stands out from other shipping hubs due to the responsiveness of its staff, said Ben Barnard, vice president of global partnership and business development for Mission Produce, an Oxnard-based avocado producer that ships its crops through the port.

“If something happens or we have questions, (port staff) are not difficult to get a hold of,” Barnard said. “That wouldn’t be the situation at larger ports in Long Beach or Los Angeles. They aren’t as readily available there.”

Barnard noted that Mission Produce shipped more than 11,000 tons of produce through the Port of Hueneme during the 2017 fiscal year. He added that Mission Produce likely shipped significantly more produce through the port during the 2018 fiscal year.

Besides its strategic location as the only deepwater port between Los Angeles and San Francisco, much of the port’s recent success is due to its staff being proactive about courting new customers, said Port Hueneme City Council member Tom Figg. He added that the port has also taken steps to be environmentally friendly as it continues to grow and said the port is a key part of the city’s economy.

“On one hand, the port is aggressive with getting into marketplaces, getting ahead of others on new market opportunities before others can exploit it,” Figg said. “At the same time, they are attentive to issues of global concern and invest in green technology to leave the smallest (carbon) footprint possible. The Port of Hueneme represents around 10 percent of the city’s general operating revenues and is an important part of the city.”

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Shipping of bananas, like those being unload from the Chiquita Venture, was up 5 percent at the Port of Hueneme for the recently completed fiscal year.(Photo: JUAN CARLO/THE STAR)